Wasps beat the chill and the Army 50-19

The Army
By Barney Burnham
February 23 2005

On a freezing night in Aldershot, with heavy snow falling for much of the second half, Wasps produced some spectacular running rugby, to beat the Army by 50 points to 19. After flyhalf Nick Defty missed a first minute penalty, coach Shaun Edwards sent out orders that Wasps should run all penalties.

Within three minutes, they'd taken the lead, with a try from winger Joe Mbu, on his Wasps debut.

After a series of phases took play into the Army 22, the ball was worked out left, and a long pass from Dominic Waldouck found the powerful winger, who forced his way over near the corner.

A second try was on the board four minutes later. Wasps won a scrum on their 22, and a defence-splitting break by James Wellwood sent fullback Ed Hoadley in for a try which Defty converted.

The third try came on 16 minutes, following a darting blindside break by James Brooks (playing at scrumhalf). He found skipper George Skivington on his inside, and the speedy lock darted over beneath the posts, with a try again converted by Defty.

The Army struck back from a quick penalty on the Wasps 22. Prop Steve Trethaway made ground, before feeding lock Andrew Smith. His pass sent flanker Mark Lee over, and skipper Mal Roberts landed the conversion, to make it 19-7, and that was as close as it got.

Wasps ran in four unanswered tries before the break, beginning with a well-worked score from a scrum in the Army 22. Matt Priscott came into the line, on a perfectly timed run from the blindside wing, and his pass sent Wellwood in for five more points. Defty's conversion made it 26-7, and that soon became 33-7, after a spectacular solo effort by Priscott.

The winger received the balll near his own 22, and raced away down the right wing, before veering infield, to outstrip the defence for a score reminiscent of John Bentley's memorable effort for the 1997 Lions.

Wellwood's second followed a counterattack featuring Hoadley, Waldouck and Skivington. The England Under-21 centre then completed his hat-trick, after another Priscott-inspired move. The New Zealander fielded a kick deep inside his own 22, before bursting away down the right wing. He then moved the ball infield, where he combined with Mark Lock (making a welcome return, after injury) and Waldouck , to send Wellwood over in the corner.

The final score of the half went to the Army, after a Wasps counterattack was stopped on the 22. The ball was turned over, and the Wasps defence failed to deal with a chip to the corner, where flanker Grant Gatford was on hand to dive over and make the halftime score 43-12.

The light snow which had begun to fall late in the first half turned into something approaching a blizzard after the break. With the temperature plummeting, it was inevitable that handling errors would creep in, and the second 40 minutes could not match the entertainment of the first.

Wasps managed just one try, which came 12 minutes after the interval. Matt Corker - a giant lock from Bath University, who had switched to number 8, after Rob Cain replaced Mark Lock - picked up from the base of a scrum on the Wasps 10 metre line. He fed Warren Fury (who'd replaced Brooks), and the scrumhalf sent Priscott away on another perfectly angled 40-metre run, which ended beneath the posts.

England Under-18 flyhalf Giles Pryor - an Aylesbury Grammar School pupil, who'd replaced Defty - added the conversion.

Wasps then made a string of substitutions (they'd started with a bench of 10) and lost much of their fluency. Despite that, they twice came close to adding a further try - first, when Mbu pounced on a loose ball. He was deep in to the 22, before the defence managed to drag him down, injuring his leg in the process. Early indications are that it's nothing serious, and, after lengthy treatment, he was able to walk off the pitch with some assistance.

A few minutes later, Priscott couldn't hang on to an interception, which would have sent him in for his hat-trick.

The final score of the night went to the Army, when Lee rounded off a fine counter-attack with his second try, converted by Roberts, to make the final score 19-50.

Despite the Arctic conditions, there was plenty to entertain the crowd, which included a number of first team players offering enthusiastic support.

Coach Shaun Edwards felt it had been a game of two halves. "In the first half, some of our support play was outstanding. After halftime, we made a lot of substitutions, and inevitably lost our cohesion. But it was an enjoyable game, and we got to see a number of young hopefuls."

As well as those already mentioned, those hopefuls included England Under-18 forward Hugo Ellis (from St. Benedict's Ealing), Wellington College back row forward Sam Stitcher ( former captain of England Under-16), and Canada Under-19 winger James Buchanan.

Next Monday sees the biggest game of the season, with Zurich A tabletoppers, and defending champions, Harlequins coming to Imber Court. The two sides are level on points, but Wasps have a game in hand. Victory would make Wasps hot favourites to reach the playoff final.